8 Pudukkai fishermen arrested by Lankan Navy

It is said, around 650 fishermen of Jegathappattinam of Pudukkottai district had ventured into the sea by 165 mechanised boats on Monday morning. As per schedule, all of them, except the two boats, reached the shore on Tuesday morning. As the functionaries of the mechanised boats fishermen association from Jegathappattinam found something amiss, they started search operations to trace their fellow men.

Later, they were informed by their counterparts at Sri Lanka that eight fishermen from Pudukkottai were arrested by the Lankan Navy and their mechanised boats were also confiscated. 

The news was confirmed by district fisheries department authorities also. 

The arrested fishermen have been identified as Manikandan (30), Subash Chandran (20), Karuppaiyah (30), Subramani (40) , Panner (28), Muthu (30), Gurumurthi (20), Jeya Sundaram (21) all hailing from various fishermen hamlets around Jegathappattinam. 

The arrested fishermen and their boats were handed over to the Assistant Director of Fisheries, Jaffna for further legal proceedings, according to sources. 

Following the news, a mild tension prevailed in the area. The functionaries of fishermen associations of Jegathappattinam and Kottaippattinam have expressed their dejection over the repeated arrests and they urged that the state government should give strong-pressure to the union government to address the problems of fishermen in the state.